Special men deserve special days and as Brian has described so well the weather and the cricket combined yesterday to the extent that Mick's Memorial will live long in the memories of those who were there. I would have liked to post a photograph of the splendid bench Catherine has purchased in Mick's memory but never found a time when one or more pcws were not trying it for size.
It was a rather uninspiring morning in the Lower Ure Valley but my brother telephoned from North Derbyshire to say the sun was shining and as I crossed the River Wharfe on my way to Arthington the skies were brighter and as I stepped from the car the air felt warmer. Minutes later the sun came out and stayed with us for most of the afternoon and equally important the stars came out too in the form of two men who just two days earlier had been playing for Northants in the county championship. After what has been a difficult season for them how gratifying that they were prepared to give up a free Sunday to play in the match.
This photograph shows a group of pcws in the sunniest corner of the ground and good to have Tony Hutton back in our midst (third from the right)
On Tony's left is Brian Levinson compiler of 'All In A Day's Cricket, An anthology of outstanding cricket writing' and which contains on pages 51 and 52 an extract from 'Off the beaten track', the diary of the 2006 season written by Mick Bourne, Tony and Brian Senior.
Away from Arthington, however all is not well in local league cricket for on Friday a friend passed to me a copy of this week's Knaresborough Post with an article describing a meeting of clubs in the Wetherby League held last week where league chairman Zai Ali dismissed concerns that an outflow of clubs constituted a crisis. Over the four seasons I have been posting on the blog I have made references to the net loss of clubs from the league including the transfer of Spofforth in 2010 to the Nidderdale League. The Post's article relates how Great Preston and Whixley will join new leagues in 2015 (Central Yorkshire and Nidderdale respectively) and adds that Old Mods and Wetherby are also expected to leave. Mr Ali describes the possible loss of four clubs as a 'blip', and the meeting discussed a number of changes to its organisation and rules which it is hoped will allay clubs fears that the departures constitute a crisis.
To lose two out of the top division's top four seems to an outsider more than a 'blip'. Should four clubs leave, the league will have 31 members, 26 of which have an LS postcode. Time for a new name?
1 comment:
doesn't Wetherby itseld and much of its surrounding areas have Leeds postcodes?
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